I was just browsing through my Twitter feed and I've been finding funny tweets that talk about their friends getting onboarded in crypto and then the first coin they bought is a meme coin. I find it really funny because I could be that person 4 years ago. It's really annoying to be in crypto as a newbie. Especially during the bull market where everyone shills about the project that they are investing in. Imagine the confusion of a newbie listening to others who are overselling their coins on Twitter.
If you ever had the chance to check on the #BinanceSmartChain tag on Twitter, you will find the many forks of Pancake swap or Goose Defi, Safemoon, and many other auto-yield DeFi products that are obviously a scam. There are so many newbie traps that Binance can't even manage to shut down. That's the ugly truth of decentralization, the scammers are also untraceable.
The scammers can easily stage a variety of schemes that even experienced users can't detect until they become a victim. One of the famous schemes that allowed a group of scammer to siphon the coins directly from the wallet of the users made it possible for them to acquire millions worth of assets. The users are not even aware until the acquisition was completed.
The moral that I'm trying to say in this post is that the technology may be trust-less however, it doesn't mean that we should easily entrust our money to a project or to a platform that promises fantastic returns. The APRs don't matter if the safety of the funds is being compromised.
There is a lot to learn in the crypto space and yet they don't come easy. In most cases, people learn them the hard way. Experience may be the best teacher but it's a painful lesson to learn. Even so, there are people who fall prey to these scams and it's saddening to see them rant about crypto on social media. They don't even have the realization that they made a mistake in making poor decisions on their investment.
I have nothing against Defi. In fact, I think that it's the best product that we have this season. I just really wished that we had it back in 2018.
In my opinion, the best way to participate in Defi is through the platforms that are showcasing a credible track record and are focusing on the safety of the user's funds. The APRs may not be as shiny as the ones who are pumping their APRs to attract users. But then if the security of the funds is compromised then those nice earnings will be lost for good which makes it non-sensical.
Chasing APRs is a very risky game to play. Make sure that before you participate in a Defi platform or product, do thorough research about the team, the documentation, and the code (if possible). If none of these are available or non-existent then it's probably not the platform or product that you can entrust your money with.
Very Important before you invest
NFA: Not Financial Advice!
DYOR: Do Your Own Research!
IAYOR: Invest At Your Own Risk!
Crypto market is always risky and you can only gain where you can take risk, crypto may able to make you profitable if you chose it right way.
Investing in crypto itself is very risky, I should say 😁 But we are in these markets 3-4 years and more. We know when and where it is safer to invest and when we can expect higher returns of investment. I know some people around me, that throw themselves in projects as Safemoon and Various different ones, but luckily they invest just small amounts of money. I’m happily seeing some very good profits on Ethereum lately, and never regret NOT investing in some “quick profit” meme projects. I only regret selling my 5000 doge about 3-4 years ago 😁
I also have Doge somewhere (good as lost), I was mining it using my old phone that doesn't function anymore which makes my wallet inaccessible and I still don't know how to back up anything back then. lol
There was a time when I also participated in the watch a video to earn Doge, I did it for 2 days and then stopped because it felt like my time is not worth the low earnings I get through it.
These are some newbie mistakes I made in the past :D
This problem is the mentality of people joining the crypto space, many come with the mindset of making quick profits, the reason they fall into very risky project that often end up badly.
Just like as you said, doing solid checks like researching about team track record and what the token stands for will limit the chance of making poor investment decisions
Safety of the user's fund is really necessary and very important...